Classical Civilization

The in situ state of Pompeii, allows archaeologists to seize a unique opportunity to gradually identify and plan the exact city layout and the past use of its buildings, many of which still stand there today. The ability to achieve this allows us, for the purpose of this essay, to reconstruct the type of leisure activities available within Pompeii, as even though a considerable amount of Roman life was focused around negotium (everyday labour and business), people of Rome additionally placed away time for otium (leisure). The pastimes that were available to the public of ancient Rome, share a number of similarities to those available in many of today’s societies, such as bathing, theatrics and sport. The significance of leisure to the inhabitants of Pompeii will also be analysed through many literary and archaeological factors. Throughout, these factors will be applied to the wider context to enhance our understanding of leisure activities within other cities of the Roman world, including specific examples.

This paper addresses the issue of civilizational decline and downfall in regard to the western civilization using historical and current data analysis from primary, secondary, and tertiary sources of history, sociology, psychology, economics and international politics. The research is not to insult any individual or culture but to expose the dynamics of civilizational downfall in relation to the human individual and his society’s activity and evolution. The author finds that the western civilization, like previous ones, is headed for a downfall as it’s decline gradually builds up and intensifies. The author also suggests the Muslims a solution to minimize the effect of shockwave from the downfall of western civilization.

This book deals with the study of war crimes in ancient Greece and Roman world, and the relationship to this phenomenon during classical civilization. The book contains a large numbers of examples of war crimes and examples of punishing those who would commit them.

Esta obra se distribuye bajo licencia Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial 4.0 Internacional (CC BY-NC 4.0) La Editorial Dykinson autoriza a incluir esta obra en repositorios institucionales de acceso abierto para facilitar su difusión. Al tratarse de una obra colectiva, cada autor únicamente podrá incluir el o los capítulos de su autoría.

Els textos i imatges publicats en aquesta obra estan subjectes -llevat que s'indiqui el contrari-a una llicència de Reconeixement-NoComercial-SenseObraDerivada (BY-NC-ND) v.3.0 Espanya de Creative Commons. Podeu copiar-los, distribuir-los i transmetre'ls públicament sempre que en citeu l'autor i la font (FUOC. Fundació per a la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya), no en feu un ús comercial i no en feu obra derivada. La llicència completa es pot consultar a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/ legalcode.ca Entre aquests dos extrems, la major part dels estudiosos s'inclina per combinar, amb prudència i rigor, les dades de l'arqueologia amb les informacions de la tradició literària, fent ús de codis exegètics i hermenèutics propis de cada disciplina, i evitant les interpretacions forçades o no fonamentades. En aquest apartat, hom se centrarà en l'anàlisiil'examencríticdela tradiciómíticarelativaalesllegendesfundacionalsdeRoma, transmeses pels autors antics. No es vol jutjar la veracitat dels diversos relats mítics sinó descriure i valorar la manera com aquestes llegendes han estat creades, com han estat enriquides i ampliades i, finalment, com han estat difoses i transmeses fins a nosaltres. Lectura recomanada T.J.Cornell (1999). Los orígenes de Roma. Barcelona: Crítica. CC-BY-NC-ND • PID_00178835 8 El món clàssic II

This is a compendium of the history of Alastair Myles Cooper over the course of my life at University and beyond, this is all the papers I wrote together in this limited edition factual novel. This is my history, come let me take you for a walk through the histories of life according to a University of Leeds graduate in Classical Civilizations who lived rough as a squatter in Amsterdam where I studied for a MA in Archaeology of North Western Europe.

Isocrates claimed the allies paid phoros " not to preserve Athens, but to preserve their democracy and their freedom and to avoid the greatest evils of oligarchy. " 1 Many authors, ancient and modern, linked the sea with the ability of Athens to preserve its democracy. In this paper I shall attempt to demonstrate that whilst there is an undeniable connection between the sea and democracy, and that Athens did indeed benefitted as a result of the naval empire-financially, economically and to a certain degree even politically-those profits were a by-product of the empire rather than a direct result of it, and that democracy was facilitated by the naval supremacy but not directly funded by it. I believe there are many ways this subject could be approached but I will look at three types of evidence: ancient sources on the payment of tribute including the Athenian Tribute Lists, the costs of building and maintaining a fleet and the literary source provided by the Old Oligarch. When we talk about a link between democracy and sea in the context of the Athenian Empire, we first need to correlate these three terms: sea, empire and democracy.

A brief overview on the roles of public buildings within Roman Towns and cities.  it will also discuss how Roman culture invested greatly in, and produced, a great number of public buildings to in the fulfillment of three criteria for the populus Romanus; religious worship, entertainment and political necessities.

"Civilization" is surely among those concepts that are the most widely used in world political discourse but taken least seriously by contemporary social science. We argue for jettisoning this concept's Huntingtonian baggage, which has led scholarship into a dead end, and developing a new body of theory on a different foundation, one grounded strongly in recent nonprimordial theories of identity and micro-level research into how ordinary people actually understand the civilizational appeals made by their elites. In what we believe to be the first systematic survey-based study of individual-level civilizational identification, we establish proof-of-concept by asking a question: What influences individuals' primary identification of their own country with particular civilizational alternatives offered up by their elites? Pooling survey data gathered in Russia from 2013-2014, we confirm that civilizational identity reflects the influence of situational considerations and social construction processes. Whether individuals see Russia as part of purported "European," "Eurasian," or "Asian" civilizations depends heavily on gendered and nongendered socialization during the USSR period and factors as contingent as perceived economic performance. Results also confirm our expectation that Huntingtonian concepts fit poorly with real-world patterns of civilizational identification. Access Full Article Online

As part of Warwick Classics A. G. Leventis Ancient Worlds Day 2021 'Expanding Horizons', Dr Francesca Modini discusses how a musical perspective can shed a new light upon Roman Imperial Power, and examines the political significance of music at Rome, especially through the figures of Augustus and Nero, and their associations with music.

lthough multiple millennia have passed, education in the modern world still plays a similar role to what we nd in Greco-Roman antiquity: there is a concerted e ort-which is now felt more strongly than ever because of the pervasive presence of modern technology-to provide teaching that is more practical and appealing to the general public. We can consider the grammatical-translation method for learning languages, which was standard up to the 1970s but was rapidly overturned for a much more communicative approach; the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (Council of Europe, 2001) con rmed that linguistic evaluation should be based on di erent skills, which in practice meant less focus on grammar and more on communication. Already in ancient times, the methodologies for teaching writing and reading were up for debate. Although being a professional educator did not require any MENU AN OPEN FORUM FOR CLASSICS

Le grec ancien ne connaît pas de terme générique pour désigner la mutilation corporelle ou l’action de mutiler : en revanche, il existe toute une variété de mots pour exprimer l’action de couper, de trancher, d’amputer, de priver un individu d’une partie de son corps. La principale difficulté est que, le plus souvent, ces mots possèdent plusieurs sens, parfois éloignés les uns des autres, au point de compliquer le travail du traducteur, voire de générer des contresens. Nous nous proposons, à titre d’exemple, d’explorer l’un de ces termes. Dans un passage de son discours Sur la couronne, Démosthène invective tous les traîtres qui, dans les principales cités grecques continentales, ont soutenu le parti macédonien : il les accuse d’avoir « mutilé » leurs patries respectives (ἠκρωτηριασμένοι τὰς αὑτῶν ἕκαστοι πατρίδας). Les principaux outils lexicographiques à notre disposition proposent trois sens au verbe employé, akrôtèriazô (ἀκρωτηριάζω) qui émanent des trois définitions du substantif akrôtèrion (ἀκρωτήριον) : amputer un homme d’extrémités du corps – ou akrôtèria (ἀκρωτήρια) – et par extension « mutiler » ; couper les akrôtèria des navires, c’est-à-dire leurs éléments saillants en métal (ceux de la proue en particulier) ; ou encore, dans un contexte géographique, former un promontoire, soit un akrôtèrion. Concernant le passage qui nous intéresse, à en croire Harpocration au IIe siècle de notre ère, suivi par l’ensemble des traducteurs modernes, Démosthène emploie ce terme dans sa première acception, mais au sens figuré : la patrie se trouve ainsi métaphoriquement personnifiée. Cependant, une étude approfondie des occurrences de ce terme jusqu’au début de l’époque impériale laisse entrevoir une apparition très tardive de ce sens dans la littérature conservée.  Il est donc nécessaire de reprendre de manière systématique l’analyse des emplois d’akrôtèriazô afin de mieux appréhender son évolution sémantique. L’étude diachronique se révèle en effet très instructive : avant Démosthène, seul le sens de « couper la proue d’un navire » est attesté. Par ailleurs, l’utilisation de ce verbe pour désigner une amputation d’extrémités de corps humain n’apparaît qu’avec Polybe à la fin du IIe siècle av. J.-C. À partir de là, l’usage de ce terme se généralise, mais le sens classique disparaît. La grande majorité des mentions conservées concerne des ablations de membres, même si, de manière marginale, le sens figuré connaît également un certain usage à l’époque impériale. Ces constatations poussent à réévaluer l’image voulue par Démosthène dans son discours : nous posons l'hypothèse d’y voir, plutôt qu’une métaphore de mutilation corporelle, une comparaison avec des trières que l’on aurait volontairement privées de leur proue offensive, illustrant ainsi la situation d’Athènes et des autres cités grecques désarmées et à la merci de l’envahisseur macédonien.

"Una constante, cuando nos referimos a la mitología griega, consiste en que, a menudo, parece que traspasa la realidad, de manera que ambos mundos, el real y el imaginado, se mezclan. En lo que respecta a las amazonas, existían diversos mitos y, dentro de ellos, diversas versiones de cada mito que a lo largo del tiempo fueron generando, en el imaginario colectivo, una visión estereotipada de ellas y de los acontecimientos que las rodearon. En lo que respecta al ámbito económico, el comercio griego no solo abarcó todo el Mediterráneo sino que a través de él los griegos se pusieron en contacto con culturas tan alejadas de su órbita como los iberos o los escitas.

En este sentido, y a tenor de los recientes descubrimientos de numerosas tumbas de mujeres guerreras entre los escitas, sármatas, saurómatas, etc. que habitaron en las estepas rusas situadas al norte del Mar Negro, pretendo establecer una relación entre estas y la gran cantidad de piezas cerámicas que con representaciones de amazonas se han localizado en las colonias griegas situadas en las estribaciones de la costa norte del Mar Negro. Sobre ellas, hay que destacar que esta zona se ha conformado como la tercera región (tras Etruria y la propia ciudad de Atenas) en que se han localizado un mayor número de estas piezas (tras un análisis que he realizado sobre cerca de 1700 piezas cerámicas en todo el Mediterráneo). De forma que podría ser posible intentar trazar algún tipo de relación entre los motivos que estas piezas presentaban y la cercanía de dichos asentamientos a culturas como las mencionadas donde la capacidad bélica de la mujer parece haber sido importante y que quizá podría tener conexión con los tradicionales mitos sobre las amazonas.
"

The fight of Aeneas and his family from Troy does not seem to have attracted
the attention of African mosaicists nor that of their colleges from the entire
Roman Empire. Today we only recognize a single artwork, more specifcally, an
emblema from Karthago. Except a brief description made by the inventor, J. W.
Salomonson in 1965, the scene seems to have escaped the attention of researchers
and archeologists.

Keywords: Karthago, mosaic, Aeneas iconography, scenic composition, semantic reading.

Most modern scholarship on clientship or patronage system simply construe the concept as an
exchange relationship between a socio-politically influential man (patron) and a free inferior client.
In ancient times, however, the system (clientela) was a special case of dyadic ties in which a person
of privileged socio-economic and political eminence (patronus) used his influence and resources to
provide security, legal protection or material benefits for a person of lower social status (cliens)
who, for his part, reciprocated by offering wide-ranging services to the patron as needed. Patronclient relationship was uniquely Roman in origin; but over the centuries, the practice
metamorphosed in varying measures, motives and methods across different climes and societies.
Approached chronologically through a method of content analysis of relevant archival materials,
this paper reviewed the basic principles and practice of patron-client relationship in ancient Roman
Republic with a view to showing how the Roman phenomenon has, indeed, mutated in time and
space. To prop the foregoing claim, the paper focused on how the patron-client relationship
resonates in the socio-economic and political dynamics of African societies, especially of Ghana
and perhaps Nigeria. It concluded that clientship relationship is a transcultural phenomenon that has
penetrated deeply into the fabrics of many contemporary societies just as it did in classical antiquity.
Key Words: ancient Rome, Ghana, Nigeria, clientship, patronage, patron-client

This module examines a representative selection of authors and oratorical texts that shed light on aspects of society and religion in ancient Athens of the 4th century B.C. Weekly sessions aim to provide a critical overview of the historical development of rhetorical theory and practice, integrating this with an introduction to the legal structures of classical Athens, society, gender relations, the role of women, religion and politics, the relationship between Greeks and barbarians and a wide diversity of techniques of persuasion that are used in institutional (i.e. the law-court, the Assembly, the Boulē) and ceremonial contexts (i.e. funerals, religious and athletic conventions, etc.).

These are the slides from a paper that explored the use of digital vase animations within the classics classroom.  The paper outlined the potential of animations for increasing engagement and understanding and suggested ways to incorporate them within secondary and HE teaching.  The animations are made by Steve K. Simons, who specialises in the digital restoration and animation of ancient Greek vase scenes.  Steve and I have developed a project called Panoply, in which we create vase animations, develop ways to teach with them, and create further learning resources to accompany them.  The animations have been used in secondary and HE teaching, online open access modules, and museum outreach projects.  This paper discussed the benefits which digital vase animation has for modern pedagogy.

"Various goddesses of the ancient Mediterranean world were once understood to be Virgin Mothers - creators who birthed the entire cosmos without need of a male consort. This is the first book to explore evidence of the original parthenogenetic power of deities such as Athena, Hera, Artemis, Gaia, Demeter, Persephone, and the Gnostic Sophia. It provides stunning feminist insights about the deeper meaning of related stories, such as the judgment of Paris, the labors of Heracles, and the exploits of the Amazons. It also roots the Thesmophoria and Eleusinian Mysteries in female parthenogenetic power, thereby providing what is at long last a coherent understanding of these mysterious rites. "Rigoglioso explores the power of virgin birth, or parthenogenesis, as the primal creative process. The clarity of her analysis reveals how pervasive and influential this motif and its rites were in the ancient world. Most interesting is her remarkable explication of the Eleusinian Mysteries, where - by her application of the ‘missing piece’ of virgin birth - she makes sense of much that has been passed over or ignored in the ancient texts. This is an original piece of scholarship that dares to imagine traditions at the foundation of Western culture in an entirely new light. As with any paradigm-shifting theory, some may challenge Rigoglioso’s interpretations, but all readers will recognize that parthenogenesis, as a symbol of profound spiritual perception, could not have received a more articulate spokesperson. One feels in reading her work that she is writing from inside a tradition that we didn’t even know existed, and the authenticity of her writing makes it all the more accessible and inviting." - Gregory Shaw, Professor of Religious Studies, Stonehill College and author of Theurgy and the Soul: The Neoplatonism of Iamblichus "With this study, Rigoglioso has substantively corrected the common perception that ‘a few’ of the Greek goddesses have an inconsequential association with parthenogenesis. Her insightful explication of the parthenogenetic motif in the attributes of all the pre-Greek goddesses, as well as in the Thesmophoria and the Eleusinian Mysteries, establishes the generative powers of the Virgin Mother goddesses as a central dynamic in the pre-Greek substratum of Western religion." - Charlene Spretnak, author of Lost Goddesses of Early Greece"

Various goddesses of the ancient Mediterranean world were once understood to be Virgin Mothers - creators who birthed the entire cosmos without need of a male consort. This is the first book to explore evidence of the original parthenogenetic power of deities such as Athena, Hera, Artemis, Gaia, Demeter, Persephone, and the Gnostic Sophia. It provides stunning feminist insights about the deeper meaning of related stories, such as the judgment of Paris, the labors of Heracles, and the exploits of the Amazons. It also roots the Thesmophoria and Eleusinian Mysteries in female parthenogenetic power, thereby providing what is at long last a coherent understanding of these mysterious rites.

"Rigoglioso explores the power of virgin birth, or parthenogenesis, as the primal creative process. The clarity of her analysis reveals how pervasive and influential this motif and its rites were in the ancient world. Most interesting is her remarkable explication of the Eleusinian Mysteries, where - by her application of the ‘missing piece’ of virgin birth - she makes sense of much that has been passed over or ignored in the ancient texts. This is an original piece of scholarship that dares to imagine traditions at the foundation of Western culture in an entirely new light. As with any paradigm-shifting theory, some may challenge Rigoglioso’s interpretations, but all readers will recognize that parthenogenesis, as a symbol of profound spiritual perception, could not have received a more articulate spokesperson. One feels in reading her work that she is writing from inside a tradition that we didn’t even know existed, and the authenticity of her writing makes it all the more accessible and inviting." - Gregory Shaw, Professor of Religious Studies, Stonehill College and author of Theurgy and the Soul: The Neoplatonism of Iamblichus

"With this study, Rigoglioso has substantively corrected the common perception that ‘a few’ of the Greek goddesses have an inconsequential association with parthenogenesis. Her insightful explication of the parthenogenetic motif in the attributes of all the pre-Greek goddesses, as well as in the Thesmophoria and the Eleusinian Mysteries, establishes the generative powers of the Virgin Mother goddesses as a central dynamic in the pre-Greek substratum of Western religion." - Charlene Spretnak, author of Lost Goddesses of Early Greece

Julius Caesar (100–44 BC) is considered one of the greatest military leaders and conquerors of all time. His health status has been the source of a longstanding debate within the historical and medical community who generally suggests epilepsy and Ménière disease as the two prime differentials when considering his morbus comitialis (disease of the assembly hall). To-date, however possible cardiovascular explanations have always been ruled out on the grounds that until his death he was supposedly otherwise physically well during both private and stately affairs.When re-evaluating his symptoms, it can be noted that Caesar suffered falls during his campaigns in Spain and Africa at Cordoba and Thapsus. He reported symptoms of headaches, vertigo and later on mentioned giddiness and insensibility, when he could not stand up as senators honoured him.Together the symptoms of headache, vertigo and falls as a possible result of limb paresis, gait disturbance, sensory deficit or syncopal episode ...